The former NSA employee - a man in military service in the US for a decade - has revealed himself in an interview with The Guardian. "The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards. I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things [...] I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under." He did it out of a sense of civic duty. He's in Hong Kong, and doesn't expect to ever see home again. Poor guy.

It is too bad he'll likely never see his home again. Don't be surprised if he "disappears" one day. I'm sure the NSA *frowns* on this sort of thing.

He knows he can't stay in Hong Kong. That's why he wants to go to Iceland.

The problem with Hong Kong is that it has an extradition treaty with the United States -- signed just six months before the British left! All agreements entered into by Hong Kong on its own behalf remain in force until repealed.

The nice thing about Hong Kong, though, is that it gives him options.

He's not in some third-world country, where he might be subject to extraordinary rendition. The CIA cannot take the risk of kidnapping him on Chinese soil.

Former Hong Kong government officials have publicly encouraged him to leave Hong Kong. Which means that he probably won't be detained when he attempts to leave. (The Hong Kong government itself cannot make such a statement, but former government officials can be used to get the message out.)

Is Iceland really safe for him, though? They also have an extradition treaty. The Chinese probably wouldn't want him. Russia, perhaps?